County: Cork Site name: SKEAM WEST
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Claire Cotter
Site type: Church and Graveyard
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 498971m, N 528871m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.503425, -9.455298
The island of Skeam West lies in Roaring Water Bay, about 4 miles south-east of Schull, Co. Cork. It is approximately a quarter of a mile in length and about half that in width. Coastal erosion has created storm beaches at the eastern and western ends of the island. The remains of a church with antae stand on the low cliff (max. 2m in height) at the head of the eastern beach and human bones are visible in the exposed section face. Excavation, funded by the OPW was carried out over a four week period in September prior to the buttressing of the church walls.
The present remains of the church consist of the west gable with simple rectangular doorway and sections of the north and south walls. A break in the south wall may be the site of an ope. The entire east gable and its returns are missing. A raised stony mound, with stone facing along its northern edge, adjoins the west end of the church and may be a secondary annexe.
The cliff face (over 50m in length) was examined in detail and three cuttings were excavated a short distance back from the edge. Cutting 1 was located at the north side of the church, Cutting 2 lay a short distance south of the church and the remaining cutting was located where the outline of a ditch could be seen in the cliff face.
The land in the vicinity of the church was cultivated in the last century and the remains of a low wall running from the north-west corner of the church to the cliff edge are probably associated with this activity. The remains of a shell midden with 16th/17th-century pottery were uncovered in Cutting 2. The surface of the burial horizon, c. 0.3m below PGL, was marked in all cases by a scatter of loose flags and in some instances by quartz pebbles. A cross-shaped stone was recovered from this level in Cutting 1. The area immediately north of the church was used intensively for burials and c. 40 skeletons were recovered in an area of 6.5 sq. m. Individual graves consisted of simple body-shaped cuts and many of the skeletons were disturbed by later burials. At the time of writing post-excavation work has not been completed but the lower horizon of burials appears to predate the church. Human bone is visible underlying the north wall of the church in the cliff face. Cutting 2 yielded the remains of twenty skeletons and finds from the burial soil included a piece of green porphyry, a net sinker, loom weight and the fragmentary remains of the head of a spiral-ringed looped headed pin.
About 9m south of the church, the profile of a ditch can be seen in the cliff face. Excavation revealed the ditch to be V-shaped, (0.5m-1.5m in width) and 0.7m in max. depth. The upper edge of the ditch lies 0.6-0.8m below present ground level. The bulk of the fill consisted of charcoal-flecked light brown stony soil. A thin deposit of charcoal on the bottom contained fragments of burnt and semi-burnt bone. Only a short section (1m in length) of the ditch was revealed but it appears to be curving north-westwards and may originally have enclosed the site. A single burial overlay the ditch fill.
1 Northbrook Villas, Northbrook Road, Dublin 6
